Solitaire TV first tries
 

Hi,

Today I reinstalled a PC and webcam, and started to make some tries :

video settings
camera angle
light
montage and subtitles

Here's just a little youtube video of a passing stick demo. Nothing really fancy, but you can appreciate the decent quality of video (using the 480p mode in youtube).




(choose the 480p button under the right side of the vid)



I'm pretty happy with the result. With better preparation (a real camera stand, better light, advanced settings on the cam, etc...) it should be a great first step for my solitaire tv (at least in recorded non-live video) thmbsp$

I also plan to make this type of video tutorial for french people, to explain the game basis.

That looked very good Dimitri! thmbsp$

thanks !

for now there is no sound : I plan to add a headset with microphone like "real" coaches :D and certainly see to add sound effects also.


I'm now working on live broadcasting. I fight with latency, my last tests gave me about 3seconds of delay, and with quality.

I'm also trying to use VLC to input the best quality I can (640x480, 30fps) in the live streaming, instead of the 25fps 320x200 I just can obtain for now using the basic web browser based applications live streaming offers for linux users (I can use their win/mac dedicated broadcasting softwares).

To be honest if you just taped it then uploaded when you were done I wouldn't mind if it's easier.

what is the diameter or your magnet for your ball on pass simulation?

Keep up the good work! I'll be watching.

Dimitri, for a microphone, if you have one laying around or know someone with one, you can use a Singstar playstation 2 microphone in your pc.

I know it sounds odd but it is one of the better mics I have used for online radio. Even if you can find one at a used game store they are dirt cheap.

Just a thought.

another thought I had when I was digging around my old pc gear, was if you wanted to, you could run a 20 ft usb extension cable, and actually fix the camera above the board that way.

The more I think about it setting a board up for video really wouldn't be too hard. i may give this a shot in the next couple weeks myself.

Concerning the upside view, it will be done. I was too tired of my week work to take the tools and make the wall stand for it, but I'll do.

For microphone, I'll definitly use a head set so I can manipulate the game and the PC with my two hands ;)

for the live broadcasting, I almost did it with VLC +justin TV. The streaming quality is great offline really close from direct input...Now I have to figure out how to send the streaming to justin tv server :D

for the passing simulation, I'm using a fiberboard gameboard so it's not a magnet...Or to be more specific, yes it's a magnet, but I added some tacky putty on it (called patafix in france). That passing ball marker gave me great help in the past, but I'm modelling a new one, with scale ball and larger base for it, because it's really :fghttt: :fghttt: :dohdh: :dohdh: :fghttt: when you miss it for 0.5centimeters...I believe I'll use a s something a bit bigger like a coin (20mm or 25mm).

With that current setup I'm already pretty close from real college/pro football passing completion rate. On the video, it's also a good exemple that passing simulation is not so easy, and not slow to setup. You can see on the video (even if there is some montage) that using the ball marker and passing simulation is as fast as using a TTQB.

Just a matter of choice.

live !
 

Watch live video from miniaturefootball on Justin.tv

here we go, I finally made it, and I can broadcast with full quality (meaning with the best quality my camera can obtain, 640x480 30fps) live.

I believe the latency (around 4seconds) is something we 'll have to deal with, but I'll try to make further tests during the week, and also try to improve the quality.

I'll let the thing online, you can watch my dog on my bed. Terrific program I know. But it's just testing, I closed the gameroom and I'm working on my bedroom computer again.

Please let a comment here to say if it's working in your home.


edit : I resized the embedded tv window with real size (native) resolution of the camera.


edit 2 : I throwed a paper ball on the dog so you can have some show to watch :rtfl:

Genius
 

French guy,

Your incredible with your innovations. You have added so much to this hobby since you signed on. please keep up the incredible work and experiments. I think we are all learning a lot from you.


Thanx again
mantaraydre

Now with all that technology you can watch my dog licking his own b*lls, from France to USA. It's what I call genius too :rtfl: :rtfl: :rtfl:

thanks thmbsp$


EDIT : enough testing for tonight. With VLC I can add subtitles and logos, but I didn't achieve to make it works. I'll see that during the week...it's a good start.

for people who didn't see the marvelous show, here's a little video :D

More seriously, it's a video to show you the latency I was speaking about. I'll see if I can reduce it a little. It's not important for tv broadcast, but will be more annoying for play by tv.

We'll see.




On the screen you can see the VLC output window on right and on left (I reduced the size for making it simplier to watch) the live internt tv broadcast. Exactly the same resolution, speed, and quality between the local output and the internet output. Just the few secs latency, but I believe it's the time needed for the video to go thru the worldwide web pipes ? :confused: mgngcrz

Thats excellent. A how to on streaming would be awesome once you are setup!

I was thinking 20mm would be ideal for the football base as well. We had been experimenting with something that was 3/8" or about 10mm and it seemed small.

I'll explain how to. It's not the simplier way to go, since most of the streaming websites (just tv, ustream) also offers their own downloadable software to improve the quality of streaming. I personaly use Justin TV because the website maintainers support the use of VLC.

But using VLC is fast (once you figured how to set up the command line), very light (VLC is known for that) and great quality (once again, the VLC "core" is known for it qualities).

I believe the best use for that technic is a dedicated computer for broadcasting. You take an "old" pc (p4 2ghz for example), you put an up to date light linux (Xubuntu, for example), VLC and you're done. No viruses, no codecs, no drivers, no crashes, fast start, etc...all the great features of a linux based system.

On your board, 20mm seems to be a minimum thmbsp$

30mm ( a wargaming round base for example) should be great.

You have to play some games, and note the passing completions. Tweak your passing material until you regularly obtain a pro football or NCAA (or CFL in your case) passing completion rating.

Personaly, if I obtain a 60% passing rating, I'm happy with the result.

broadcasting again
 

Watch live video from miniaturefootball on Justin.tv



I'm broadcasting again, tonight I make some test for text and effects, for now with no result.

Tell me if it's working for you !

I don't get it for now :D

I achieved to insert logos (yeah, logos, with transparency and all the stuff, like on real tv channels) and basic text, but it works only locally and not appears on the online broadcast. Normally, I should be able to also change the text and logo dynamically during the broadcast.

I'm sure it's something really simple, an option somwhere... :confused: mgngcrz